Abstract

Sarah Bachelard describes crisis as a turning point during which all previous frameworks collapse. The narrative structure of the resurrection reveals the influential role of narrative in reintegrating such crises back into a place of meaning and wholeness. Using the resurrection narrative as an interpretive framework for Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried reveals how "story truth" acknowledges the transcendent meaning that lies beyond all texts and circumstances, and so reintegrates crisis and redeems meaning for Tim and his fellow soldiers. The transcendent and transformative qualities of story truth illustrate the latter's innately spiritual nature, even within secular texts. Story truth thus carries postsecular conversation past mere "openness" to transformation through the process of reintegration and redemption. By evoking the qualities of surprise and recognition associated with the resurrection, story truth especially illustrates that theology can elucidate such transformative processes and ought to play a key role in both spiritual and postsecular thought.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Humanities; English

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2021-12-08

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd12582

Keywords

narrative, resurrection, postsecularism, spirituality, crisis

Language

english

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